It’s October 22, 2009. Time for our buddies at Microsoft to release their newest, sexiest operating system. And here I am not using it. A few simple reasons:

Sexiness

Windows 7, despite what people may tell you, is an operating system. It manages the resources of a computer, such as the memory, storage, input, and output. Whatever Steve Jobs tells you to the contrary, this is just not exciting.

Utility

I already have an operating system on every computer I own. All of my computers work. This really is more a lack of a reason to upgrade than a particular reason not to.

Fear

Not much of a motivator compared to the others, but time-honored principle of “If it ain’t broke, don’t break it” is a factor. Everything about my current setup works, so there is probably greater risk in changing than in leaving well-enough alone. This isn’t meant to be a criticism of the quality-assurance folks at Microsoft, but rather my confidence in them.

Not only do I not want to have to wrangle with my system to make something that used to work for me run again, I really don’t want to go to war to fix the strange stuff my wife uses (like spreadsheet software). The intrinsic frustrations of troubleshooting aside, it undermines the perception in my family that I am any good with these electronic thingamajigs.

Peer Pressure

I work at a place where our servers run Linux. Several of my friends own Apple products of various descriptions. We tease each other about such things. It’s merciless.

Pig-headedness

This is a serious factor in a lot of my decisions. I picked up Vista Home Premium a while ago, and found I rather liked it. Hell, I even appreciate the much-criticized admin authority auth bongs. They make me much more comfortable with letting my three-year-old near a keyboard.

Cost

Windows 7 Home Premium costs $199.00. This brings up some sub-points:

• I’ve got bills to pay.
• I could buy a netbook for what it would cost to buy a license for my home system and existing laptop.
• If I had $199.00 burning a hole in my pocket, I’d much rather spend it on booze. Or booze and a copy of Tropico 3.

The Real Reason

I’m lazy. There is nothing about the newest version of Microsoft Windows that budges me out of my OS inertia. I am presently an object at rest on such matters. All my devices work to my satisfaction, all the software I want to run works properly, and I fully expect this to be the case for at least as long as I’m satisfied with my processor speed (which may be several years with that Core i7 I’ve got under the hood on my home system).

Best of luck with your new OS, Microsoft.